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Hunter Talents on Top Progression Parses

Out of curiousity, mostly, I went through the top ten progression parses for each hunter spec, making note of which talents were used. There was really only enough data for the first few bosses, so I may try to do this again over the next couple weeks or so, as more of the bosses are killed by a significant number of raid teams.

I should note, I'm not interested in top parses here just for the sake of high DPS numbers. Especially on bosses like Skorpyron, in normal and heroic the top parses are all filled with padding. Even now in the second week, we're seeing more padding even on mythic difficulty (though not as much as on heroic and normal). The below, however, shouldn't be talents that have the most potential damage while farming raids, but the talents the top hunters are taking for progression raiding.

The talent use columns are separated into "Actual Use" and "Weighted". The "Actual Use" column is the percentage that a particular talent was taken on a given fight. The "Weighted" column shows preference to the top parses. In particular, the top parse is 1.5 times as vaulable as the middle parse, then the parses lower in weighted value gradually until the bottom parse is .5 times as valuable as the middle parse. This may or may not be a useful metric, but I was curious and calculated it for myself, so I figured I'd show it on here.

Survival Talent Use:

Skorpyron

Actual Use

Weighted

Animal Instincts

50%

44%

Throwing Axes

0%

0%

Way of the Mok'

50%

56%

a Murder of Crows

40%

43%

Mortal Wounds

0%

0%

Snake Hunter

60%

57%

Posthaste

10%

5%

Disengage

80%

88%

Trailblazer

10%

7%

Caltrops

100%

100%

Guerrilla Tactics

0%

0%

Steel Trap

0%

0%

Sticky Bomb

20%

26%

Ranger's Net

20%

11%

Camouflage

60%

63%

Butchery

100%

100%

Dragonsfire Grenade

0%

0%

Serpent Sting

0%

0%

Spitting Cobra

10%

11%

Expert Trapper

90%

89%

Aspect o't' Beast

0%

0%

Here, Butchery and Caltrops seem to be the obvious choice for strong AoE. AI vs WotM seem to be both good choices, with more top parses leaning toward WotM. The aMoC vs Snake Hunter choice had more parses choose Snake Hunters, but more top parses choose aMoC; either can be lined up with the vulnerable phases for more damage.

Chromatic Anomaly

Actual Use

Weighted

Animal Instincts

20%

20%

Throwing Axes

0%

0%

Way of the Mok'

80%

80%

a Murder of Crows

40%

42%

Mortal Wounds

0%

0%

Snake Hunter

60%

58%

Posthaste

0%

0%

Disengage

100%

100%

Trailblazer

0%

0%

Caltrops

80%

78%

Guerrilla Tactics

10%

7%

Steel Trap

10%

15%

Sticky Bomb

30%

33%

Ranger's Net

10%

6%

Camouflage

60%

61%

Butchery

50%

41%

Dragonsfire Grenade

0%

0%

Serpent Sting

50%

59%

Spitting Cobra

30%

33%

Expert Trapper

70%

67%

Aspect o't' Beast

0%

0%

I was glad to see a couple hunters taking AI, as I think it's a kind of fun talent, even if a bit underwhelming; though the obvious choice here seems to be WotM. The level 60 tier had a couple outliers taking GT or Steel Trap. I imagine we'll see more and more hunters taking steel trap going forward on single target and mostly single target fights, as more hunters notice that it does about 33% more damage than its tooltip says it should.

Trilliax

Actual Use

Weighted

Animal Instincts

0%

0%

Throwing Axes

0%

0%

Way of the Mok'

100%

100%

a Murder of Crows

70%

73%

Mortal Wounds

0%

0%

Snake Hunter

30%

27%

Posthaste

0%

0%

Disengage

100%

100%

Trailblazer

0%

0%

Caltrops

60%

55%

Guerrilla Tactics

30%

30%

Steel Trap

10%

15%

Sticky Bomb

20%

13%

Ranger's Net

20%

17%

Camouflage

60%

70%

Butchery

10%

5%

Dragonsfire Grenade

0%

0%

Serpent Sting

90%

95%

Spitting Cobra

60%

58%

Expert Trapper

40%

42%

Aspect o't' Beast

0%

0%

Marks Talent Use:

Skorpyron

Actual Use

Weighted

Lone Wolf

100%

100%

Steady Focus

0%

0%

Careful Aim

0%

0%

Lock and Load

100%

100%

Black Arrow

0%

0%

True Aim

0%

0%

Posthaste

100%

100%

Farstrider

0%

0%

Trailblazer

0%

0%

Explosive Shot

60%

53%

Sentinel

0%

0%

Patient Sniper

40%

47%

Binding Shot

100%

100%

Wyvern Sting

0%

0%

Camouflage

0%

0%

A Murder of Crows

0%

0%

Barrage

0%

0%

Volley

100%

100%

Sidewinders

0%

0%

Piercing Shot

50%

46%

Trick Shot

50%

54%

The levels 60 and 100 tiers were the only with any variation. In this case all but one person who took Explosive Shot took Piercing Shot, and vice versa for Patient Sniper and Trick Shot, with the choice coming down to, primarily, doing more AoE damage or more Single Target damage, which may be a choice we'll have to make based on Raid Comp, which I did not record.

Chromatic Anomaly

Actual Use

Weighted

Lone Wolf

100%

100%

Steady Focus

0%

0%

Careful Aim

0%

0%

Lock and Load

90%

95%

Black Arrow

0%

0%

True Aim

10%

5%

Posthaste

100%

100%

Farstrider

0%

0%

Trailblazer

0%

0%

Explosive Shot

30%

28%

Sentinel

0%

0%

Patient Sniper

70%

72%

Binding Shot

100%

100%

Wyvern Sting

0%

0%

Camouflage

0%

0%

A Murder of Crows

0%

0%

Barrage

0%

0%

Volley

100%

100%

Sidewinders

0%

0%

Piercing Shot

20%

20%

Trick Shot

80%

80%

Nothing too out of the ordinary here. I imagine a couple people took Explosive Shot to try to more quickly kill those 4 adds that spawn when the big add dies. Lock and Load may have been more of a movement choice, though Patient Sniper may also be problematic with the increased and decreased time.

Trilliax

Actual Use

Weighted

Lone Wolf

100%

100%

Steady Focus

0%

0%

Careful Aim

0%

0%

Lock and Load

20%

20%

Black Arrow

0%

0%

True Aim

80%

80%

Posthaste

100%

100%

Farstrider

0%

0%

Trailblazer

0%

0%

Explosive Shot

0%

0%

Sentinel

0%

0%

Patient Sniper

100%

100%

Binding Shot

100%

100%

Wyvern Sting

0%

0%

Camouflage

0%

0%

A Murder of Crows

80%

80%

Barrage

0%

0%

Volley

20%

20%

Sidewinders

0%

0%

Piercing Shot

0%

0%

Trick Shot

100%

100%

Here again we see mostly pretty typical single target builds. A couple people took Volley and Lock and Load (the same people, I should note), which I'm told (thanks @ABirdofPrey) is more beneficial for those making hard swaps for add damage.

Beast Mastery Talent Use:

Skorpyron

Actual Use

Weighted

Big Game Hunter

0%

0%

Way of the Cobra

0%

0%

Dire Stable

100%

100%

Stomp

100%

100%

Dire Frenzy

0%

0%

Chimaera Shot

0%

0%

Posthaste

100%

100%

Farstrider

0%

0%

Trailblazer

0%

0%

One with the Pack

0%

0%

Bestial Fury

0%

0%

Blink Strikes

100%

100%

Binding Shot

100%

100%

Wyvern Sting

0%

0%

Intimidation

0%

0%

A Murder of Crows

0%

0%

Barrage

0%

0%

Volley

100%

100%

Stampede

0%

0%

Killer Cobra

90%

91%

Aspect of the Beast

10%

9%

This fight was the closest to having all top 10 parses using the same exact build. One lone BM Hunter took Aspect of the Beast instead of Killer Cobra, but asside from that, it seems there is one clear AoE build here.

Chromatic Anomaly

Actual Use

Weighted

Big Game Hunter

0%

0%

Way of the Cobra

60%

57%

Dire Stable

40%

43%

Stomp

100%

100%

Dire Frenzy

0%

0%

Chimaera Shot

0%

0%

Posthaste

100%

100%

Farstrider

0%

0%

Trailblazer

0%

0%

One with the Pack

10%

14%

Bestial Fury

40%

27%

Blink Strikes

50%

59%

Binding Shot

90%

91%

Wyvern Sting

0%

0%

Intimidation

10%

9%

A Murder of Crows

100%

100%

Barrage

0%

0%

Volley

0%

0%

Stampede

0%

0%

Killer Cobra

100%

100%

Aspect of the Beast

0%

0%

Two tiers had some variety here. Pets tend to suffer more from long distances between targets, which I believe is what put Blink Strikes into the lead in its tier, with the most uses, and 4 of the top 5 parses. Way of the Cobra and Dire Stable seems to be more of a wash, with both seeming fairly viable.